A juvenile wood stork hunts the edge of the freshwater lagoon at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. As it grows into adulthood it will lose the feathers on its neck and head.
Category: Birds
Home on the Road
Killdeer nest on the ground in a shallow depression, often in gravel or sand, which is a bit of an issue at a place like Ridgefield where a gravel auto tour runs beside the many small ponds. A killdeer had laid four eggs in this nest at the edge of the road near the end of the auto tour, where the camouflage of the eggs will work against the likelihood of them not getting run over when the parents aren’t on the nest.
You Might Not See It Coming (Or Going)
A coyote runs past in a frosty meadow, obscured in heavy fog, with a cackling goose in its mouth.
A Choice of Waters
A great blue heron waits in a saltwater marsh at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. It’s a wonderful park that not only has ocean access and some short hiking trails but also a causeway that runs between saltwater and freshwater lagoons. There are walking paths on each side of the road so as a photographer you can choose your type of water, as can the herons and egrets that hunt here. Although my biggest surprise seeing predators move between the marshes came one day as I was photographing alligators in the freshwater marsh when a large alligator came walking across the road from the saltwater side, the first time I learned they could spend a bit of time in the saltwater before returning to their freshwater home. After that I watched my back a bit more closely, although I never even remotely had any problems with the large reptiles.
Predator v. Predator
Bullfrogs are voracious predators and not native to the Northwest but they are also a food source for a variety of animals that have learned to eat them. This large bullfrog was I think killed by a family of otters that came through earlier, it looked like one of them had caught the frog and eaten its front legs and a bit near the back before leaving. The heron was happy to eat what the otters left, dunking the frog a couple of times in the water (birds like herons and bitterns do this at times with their prey when near water) before getting it positioned in its beak where it could swallow the frog whole.
Winter is Here, Spring is Coming
A red-winged blackbird perches on a branch late on a sunny winter afternoon as the tree begins to bud out as spring beckons.
Swim, Swim, Shoveler
A simple portrait of one of my favorite birds in the late light of winter.
On Point
I think the male mallard is one of our most beautiful birds but they are often unappreciated because they are so common and tame in duck ponds around the country. How much more so the females without the glorious green! At Ridgefield mallards are not so common and quite shy so I photograph them whenever I get the chance, and when this pair swam in my direction I focused on the female on point.
Are You Hoarse?
No but I do have a frog in my throat.
Fish Heads, Fish Heads
Great blue herons normally swallow their prey whole, I believe this fish head came courtesy of a family of river otters I had seen moving through shortly before. Although effective hunters themselves, I’ve seen herons shadow otters before to try for scraps from the on-the-move otters (and seen otters make feints towards the herons if they think they’re getting too close and might grab more than just leftovers).
Boolie 